Hey what’s up friends, Rwenful here, back again with more tips on how to squeeze every last bit of DPS from your beautiful Demon Hunter killing machine, so sit back, grab the popcorn, and get ready to turn it up to 11!

Patch 2.0 introduced a lot of new changes to the game, and when things change, you have to adapt to continue to play awesome. The major change that is affecting all characters now is the change to Life Steal:

Life Steal is less effective when you are higher level:

At 60, Life Steal gains a 0.1x multiplier – meaning it’s junk.

At 70, Life Steal no longer functions – meaning…yeah, you get it.

So, gone are the easy days of face-tanking unlimited mobs and loling at how easy the game is. Life On Hit is the new #doge #suchwow. Start looking for Life On Hit gear, it scales with Attack Speed, which is one of our core stats.

Second, all classes received a major rework on their skills, and the Demon Hunter was no exception. If you scan the 2.0.1 patch notes, you’ll see that we got mostly damage increases and Resource cost reductions. W00t! Except there were a few nerfs in there too:

Spike Trap

Increased arming duration from 1.2 seconds to 2 seconds

Lowered trap damage from 275% to 180% weapon damage

The trap now has a 2 second re-arming time and can explode up to 3 times

OK, so that last point seem kinda cool, but honestly, why increase our damage on everything and then reduce it on this? Because it was too good in 1.0.8. While they may explode 3 times now, what’s the likelihood that you’re going to kite enemies over them 3 times with 2 seconds in between? Lame IMO.

So now with all these new skills, a lot things look good, but we have to consider one more thing: with all these buffs to our damage, did you really thing they were going to leave the difficulty of the levels alone? LOL NO. Torment is the new Inferno, and has a ranges 1-6. Torment 1-2 was quite easy, something like mp4-5 let’s say. Torment 3-4 was ok something like mp9-10. When I switched to Torment 5, it felt like mp11…and then boom…when I gave a try to Torment 6 was like mp20!

Since the end game content is noticeably harder, we MUST MAXIMIZE OUR DPS!!!

The 2.0.1 Frostful Build

This build is designed for Torment farming, but it’s extremely viable at any level, and synergies well with a party. Your slows and damage buff will get you #muchamaze from your team.

Play Style Explained

“Oh wow, really? Frost Arrow? Laterzz…” Hold up chief, I’m about to get in the zone. I mentioned above that with all the changes in Patch 2.0.1 we need maximum DPS to farm in Torment, and this is best the way to do it.

Check it out, you roll up on a pack of mobs, engage and here’s what you get:

1 Frost Arrow hitting 11 mobs, doing 330% weapon damage to each, and slowing them for 1 second (yes, slows work in Torment!).

20% damage to the target you Marked for Death, and 15% of damage done divided to mobs within 20 yards.

20% damage for Steady Aim, cause you’re not face tanking.

20% damage for Cull the Weak, cause with Frost Arrow, everything is slowed.

Oh, you just Vaulted with Trail of Cinders? Add 300% weapon damage over 3 seconds.

Extra damage from Archery.

GG.

You just buffed yourself to put 60+% extra damage on the Marked target, and 40+% to all mobs within 20 yards. And we haven’t even started to talk about gearing for Elemental Damage increases!!! I hope you can see how this build has limitless potential.

This is a return to being a true Demon Hunter, staying in the shadows, striking from a far, kiting mobs cause now your slows work in end game. THIS IS FROSTFUL!

Build Overview

Survival is paramount. Just read any of my other guides and you’ll know I’m a huge fan of this skill, especially now with it’s rework. No discipline cost on the back flip, higher than most damage, and 3 hits for 1 shot = #rekt.

Good damage output and great hatred regen. At 160% weapon damage and 4 hatred regen per shot, this is the most efficient, non runed, damage per hatred regen skill we have.

Conical hit box of Covering Fire. Covering Fire fires out in about a 45 degree area, allowing you to quickly kill waves of mobs and clear environmental objects.

Your AOE deliciousness. Elemental Arrow was strong in 1.0.8, with many people using Ball Lightning since it was OP. In 2.0.1, Frost Arrow is the new Ball Lightning! Shoot a frost arrow that hits an enemy for 330% weapon damage as Cold then splits into up to 10 additional frost arrows. Enemies hit have their movement speed slowed by 60% for 1 seconds. This skill is bananas! B A N A N A S!

Conical AOE Damage. After hitting the first target, the arrow splits into 10 additional Frost Arrows, hitting adjacent targets in a wide arc, and slowing them. 1 for 10 for only 10 hatred seems like a pretty good deal. Actually, it’s OP.

Slows actually work now! In Patch 1.0.x, monsters in Inferno lol’d at slows, they just didn’t work. Thankfully, this has changed, and you can actually kite stuff, even elites.

Hello Life on Hit. Shadow Power got reworked since Life Steal is gone, but hey, 1651 Life On Hit for 5 seconds? Doesn’t sound too awesome until you factor in that you’re using Frost Arrow, and each hit is hitting up to 10 other enemies. Basically, you will instant heal on any pack of mobs.

Tank This. 15% damage reduction may not seem like much, but it’s enough to allow you face tank most elites for those few key seconds you need to heal up and GTFO.

Spam Arrow. In a good position to drop Frost Arrows? Perfect, use this and keep the DPS going!

Wait..Don’t you want this for Discipline? With this build, the only other things you’ll use Discipline for are Vault and Marked for Death, both low cost, so you normally don’t need to worry about Discipline.

Some of my previous guides were able to leverage specific types of gear to significantly improve their performance. With Frostful, I don’t think that’s the case, but there’s definitely one thing you want to check out:

Increases Elemental Arrow Damage stats on gear. This just makes sense when using a build built around Elemental Arrow. Every little bit adds to the pool, and you’ll see your on target DPS skyrocket!

The nice to haves. Movement Speed, Life On Hit, Resists, Magic Find, Experience Bonus, and Pickup Range are always helpful, but not required to pwn.

Well, I think that’s it. This seems lengthy for a farming build, but I hope you give the Frostful build for you guys. Finally, I know we’re all in strung out shape but stay frosty and alert. We can’t afford to let one of those bastards in here!

Paragon farming is not fun. It’s boring, repetitive, and monotonous…but here’s a new spec that will speed up your farming and make it interesting again.

Ever since Whirlwind Barbarians became the best thing since sliced bread, everyone has been trying to duplicate their mindless “hey I’m just gonna run though and kill everything and not get hurt cause I’m OP kthxbai” play style. You know what I mean, we’ve all been in a group with that WW Barb who solos Ubers MP10 blindfolded while reciting Shakespeare and basically carries us all. All classes want to feel that OP, and Demon Hunters are finally in luck.

There are a lot of Strafe Specs out there that are…interesting. The best one I found was CinderStrafe, but I thought it could be improved to allow you to farm higher MP content with a few small changes.

The 1.0.6 Solo PerfStrafe Build

This build is designed for Inferno MP 1+ farming. When rolling with a group, it’s best to choose your skills to have the best synergism with your team.

Play Style Explained

Ok, I know that some of you looked at the build link and were like “OMFGWTFBBQ???”…Yes, there is NO HATRED GENERATOR. I know, I know, this seems weird and you’re starting to wonder if I’m trolling you. Bro…trust me…

First off, a basic video of what this build can do:

Now that you see it works…allow me to explain the basics of it:

Always fire up your Shuriken Cloud and get out your Bat Companion before you rush in.

If you’re low on Hatred, look for health globes or pop Punishment

If you’re low on Discipline, get into melee range more for more Shuriken Cloud crits

See? Not much to it, just like Whirlwind! But…there are some finer points.

You’re going to need DECENT gear. Your critical strike chance should be at least 30% and depending on what MP you want to run, you should have a good amount of all resist on your gear.

I recommend using the Templar Follower for his Hatred Regen talent.

This spec works best in big groups of mobs because you can generate more crits (Night Stalker procs) and get more health globes to naturally replenish your hatred.

Your Whirlwind. Demolition’s AOE gernades do 187% weapon damage and has a small AOE, which will quickly clear the mobs. This is the best rune because of the AOE criticals, which result in you always having enough Discipline to do anything your heart desires ^_^

Tank This. 35% damage reduction with 15% life steal for 5 seconds will allow you to tank into big packs of mobs that would otherwise kill you, allowing for effective use of Shuriken Cloud to proc Night Stalker.

Strafe Up Time. No Health Globes around? No Problem! 25 Disclipine for all of your hatred back keeps Strafe up and keeps you alive.

Wait..Don’t you want this for Discipline? No, if you have enough crit and get into melee range to make sure you’re hitting with Shuriken Cloud also, you’ll have unlimited discipline! If you’re not, then you’re doing it wrong. 9 times out of 10 this is where you need to look at your gear. 30% crit chance is the minimum that I’d recommend for this build, but the more the better since it snowballs.

Passives

Hatred Regen. The extra 25 hatred isn’t as important as the ability to restore 20 hatred from a health globe (and 2 discipline). This is the real key to keeping your hatred up, killing mobs and getting the health globes with this passive.

Stay On Target. You’re going to be using your Discipline often, and this is how we keep it replenishing. Crits from Strafe’s gernades and Shuriken Cloud will keep this passive working all day long. Don’t worry about the chance on this passive, just worry about having enough critical strike chance on your character.

I don’t like gearing specially for a build, but in this case it’s helpful. If you’re going to farm to paragon 100, you might as well take the time to invest in your gear. Here’s what you should look at if you really want to make this build work:

Weapon Choice: Get a 2 Hand Crossbow with lots of Crit Damage and High Dps (READ: buy a MANTICORE) and a godlike quiver (READ: buy a DEAD MAN’S LEGACY). This combo is awesome for DPS and Crit Damage. The main thing is the top end damage. I was running Danetta’s Spite and Revenge, which I loved (and actually had about 50% more crit damage), but they were only around 920 dps each. I went to a 1090 Manticore. I never looked back. Go 2 Hand Crossbow. I know, I hate the animation also, I hate the weapon speed, I just hate it, but damn…it’s beast. Guess that’s why everyone’s using it.

Critical Strike Chance: You won’t be able to keep your hatred up at all times / survive at all times if you don’t have enough crit. Crit’s are key to getting more Night Stalker procs, which results in more discipline, which keeps you in god mode. Get Crit on your gear. Head, Gloves, Wrists, Rings (unless you’re using a Hellfire with a bad roll, like me…), every place you can get crit on your gear…GET IT.

Movement Speed: This isn’t paramount, but it helps in farms, and I just like going fast. Boots are the obvious choice for + move speed, but a GREAT DEMON HUNTER ITEM that everyone can afford is The Inquisitor. 12% movement speed AND there’s an affix for Strafe Crit Chance…hmm that works nicely, doesn’t it?

Well, I think that’s it. This seems lengthy for a farming build, but I hope I demystified the PerfStrafe build for you guys.

]]>http://www.diablo3artisans.com/demon-hunter-paragon-farming-perfstrafe-build/feed/7http://www.diablo3artisans.com/demon-hunter-paragon-farming-perfstrafe-build/Diablo 3 Uber Boss Battles: Maghda and the Skeleton Kinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diablo3Artisans/~3/GFE10Zj4wos/
http://www.diablo3artisans.com/diablo-3-uber-boss-battles-maghda-and-the-skeleton-king/#commentsTue, 04 Dec 2012 05:01:09 +0000Malmonkhttp://www.diablo3artisans.com/?p=1289As referenced here, there are currently three different Uber boss battles available in Diablo 3. The first article in this series gave general knowledge and tips applicable to all of the battles. This article is the first of three describing the particulars of each fight.

The Realm of Discord is a bluish-tinted version of the lair of Leoric, the Skeleton King. In it, players will battle Uber versions of Maghda and the Skeleton King (aka Leoric). If successful, players have a chance of obtaining a Writhing Spine, one of the three components needed to craft a Hellfire Ring.

In this writer’s opinion, this battle is not overly difficult IF approached in a disciplined manner. However, a willy-nilly approach will lead to a lot of frustration and failed attempts.

1. What to look out for:

Maghda’s swarm of black flies, which she vomits towards players, is very powerful and can one or two-shot many players. You must take care to avoid being hit by these. Not only can they kill you, they can interrupt your resurrection of an downed player in a very nasty way, and can do so from a distance.

The Skeleton King’s “slow walk” is a little glitchy for some people, but one thing is consistent for everyone: it hurts. Watch out for his teleport. When he does teleport, he will sometimes appear to walk very slowly immediately after. Some people see an attack here, whereas some report that he only appears to be walking slowly. In any case, when this is occurring, you’d be well-served to avoid being within his melee range unless you are rather sturdy and can take a big hit. Even if you can take a wallop and survive, be mindful of the “adds.”

The “adds,” which some refer to as minions or horde, are regular soldiers that both bosses spawn, exactly as they did in their respective events in the story line. Maghda’s adds only spawn when she is shielded I’ve not yet determined what exactly causes the Skeleton King to spawn his, but the point is that they can combine with the bosses’ powerful attacks to make this fight harder than it needs to be if you are not quick on your feet. You need to recognize when you are about to be swarmed and avoid allowing that to happen at or near the same time that you are hit by a boss’ main attack. Similarly, the adds can greatly complicate the process of resurrecting fallen enemies.

Don’t allow yourself to be “scissored” between the two bosses. This theme runs through all of the boss fights. In this case it’s due to the fact that arcane beams + black flies + massive melee attack + random adds = bad.

2. How to Win

If playing solo, it’s the same as any other battle in that you need enough DPS to whittle down the bosses and enough survivability to make it through the rough patches. I mainly play melee classes, but I imagine a Demon Hunter’s biggest challenge would be steering clear of the adds while still DPSing the bosses. If playing in a group, it’s best to have someone focus on adds while the others deal with the bosses. However in either case I highly recommend that you focus on the bosses one at a time.

Kill the Skeleton King first. Keeping the two apart is critical. You do not want to be caught between the two bosses at close range (and thus subject to the full might of their hordes as well). It seems to work best if one person keeps Maghda busy and separated, while the others focus on Leoric and the adds. The sooner the Skeleton King is down, the better, because he spawns adds frequently, whereas Maghda’s appear to be tied to the quarter marks on her health bar. Therefore, another good reason to leave her alone until Leoric dies is to keep her adds out of the game until you can focus on her and her adds alone. Also, Maghda’s arcane sentry is not something you want to spawn anywhere near you when you’re already getting up close and personal with Leoric.

Once Leoric is gone, Maghda can essentially be trapped in a corner and beaten to death, provided you can live through or avoid her arcane sentries. She will shield herself and spawn adds every time a quarter of her health is lost. Knowing this, you can predict when the adds will appear and give yourself s little space.

These tips should prepare you for a winning foray into the Realm of Discord. Happy hunting, and stay tuned for articles addressing the other Uber Boss battles.

]]>http://www.diablo3artisans.com/diablo-3-uber-boss-battles-maghda-and-the-skeleton-king/feed/0http://www.diablo3artisans.com/diablo-3-uber-boss-battles-maghda-and-the-skeleton-king/Diablo 3 Uber Boss Battles: Best Practiceshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diablo3Artisans/~3/VDla-C_gmlM/
http://www.diablo3artisans.com/diablo-3-uber-boss-battles-best-practices/#commentsFri, 09 Nov 2012 02:34:42 +0000Malmonkhttp://www.diablo3artisans.com/?p=1282With the introduction of the Infernal Machine system, Blizzard has given players something to aspire to besides simply achieving Paragon level 100. By this point most of you are aware that by finding three keys and a plan, which are obtainable by defeating Keywardens in the four Acts, you can then assemble an Infernal Machine which transports you to one of the three Realms in which the Uber bosses reside. Defeating the bosses gives you a chance to obtain a corresponding organ, and once you have the three distinct organs (and have purchased a Hellfire Ring plan for two million gold from the Act II Vendor), you can craft your own Hellfire Ring, with its guaranteed 35% bonus XP boost and chance to cast a ball of incendiary awesomeness when you attack.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, it can go very smoothly or very poorly depending on how you approach the process. Here are some general tips for making the Uber Boss battles more efficient and successful.

1. Consolidation

You have no control over which boss battle you get when using an Infernal machine. Therefore, if you are seeking a particular organ or organs for your Hellfire ring, you are at the mercy of random luck when using Infernal machines individually. However, if you have used one and then use another in the same game, you will get a different boss battle. If you open three portals in the same game, you will gain access to all three Uber boss battles. Therefore, it is advisable to consolidate your Uber boss runs into one game if possible, either by teaming with other players that can provide additional machines, or by waiting until you have three machines of your own to use in one session.

2. Efficiency

You must have five stacks of Nephalem Valor to have a shot at the bosses dropping organs. Similarly, you must have five stacks at the time you defeat any Keywarden in order to have a chance that a key will drop. Once you have the five stacks, the only other factor controlling your drops (other than whether you win, of course) is what Monster Power level you have selected. Each level adds 10% to your chances of a drop. When doing Uber/Key runs you should play on the highest MP level that you can have repeated success on. Unlike regular farming runs, it is worth it to increase the difficulty level because it directly affects your chance of dropping a key or organ. The increased difficulty of the run leading up to the ultimate battle will be worth it when you have a higher likelihood of gaining the reward you seek for your efforts. Also note that it is always advisable to go for an Act I key during these runs while you are five-stacked. Why waste the stacks?

3. Winning

Rather than give a huge number of class-specific tips or builds, I will simply lay out some general strategic considerations that I have seen play out time and time again. In case you are wondering, I personally have four Hellfire Rings and will acquire my fifth tonight.

Gear yourself for the boss fights, and make sure you start the run by choosing the skills that will most likely allow you to survive lengthy fights against opponents that have massive health pools and can nearly one-shot many players. If playing with others, try to set up complimentary skill sets that make the sum greater than the parts of your team. For example, if you have a Demon Hunter and a Monk, the Monk’s job will be to tie up the bosses while the DH lays on as much damage as possible. Survivability is key, as is the ability to counter minions, which some refer to as “adds.”

Realize that you will have to endure a long fight, and no matter how much damage you can put out, you will have to survive long enough to inflict millions of points worth of damage to win. Although you can restart a failed fight, you must also watch your stacks timer and may have to go refresh your Nephalem valor in between fights. Typically, you should be able to do two of the three battles without having to refresh your stacks, but if a battle goes poorly this number can change. In any event you need to be aware of the time factor, and resist the temptation to clear too much content before the boss and Keywarden fights. You’ll need at least one additional stack after you commence the boss battles.

The above tips provide general guidance focused on achieving Hellfire Ring ownership in an efficient manner. Check back soon for posts regarding the specifics of each Uber boss battle.

Hello again, and welcome back! I’m still testing a few of our Demon Hunter skills that were recently buffed in 1.0.4, but I wanted to do a quick post on soloing Izual. Pre 1.0.4, I was having a hard time with this fight, and while the patch did change some things, it didn’t nerf the fight in any way.

So what changed? We received some decent buffs, and the 1.0.3 build benefited nicely from them. I’ll go into more detail when I write out the 1.0.4 guide, but for now, here’s the short and sweet version:

Again, I haven’t finalized this build, but I was testing the new rune for Chemical Burn, Smoke Screen, and Vault and managed to get some good progress without any major gear upgrades. Try them out, they’re really nice for Act 3 and 4 farming as well as boss killing!

The Fight

Izual is a one phase fight, and here are his abilities:

Frost Nova – AOE freeze with a huge radius that happens about every 30 seconds. You will get hit by this while you’re kiting him, but it’s not a big deal as you can Smoke Screen out of it.

Adds – Izual gains 2 demon adds about every 30 seconds. These can be problematic, as they have a charge ability that normally 1 shots you. The key here is to use the terrain on the map and keep them out of direct pathing line of sigh (in other words, stand behind one of the pits and don’t stand infront of them).

Frost Orbs – this is the same effect as the elite ability “Chilled”. Basically, about 8 orbs spawn then explode in about 2 minutes. Just keep moving and you’ll be fine, or Smoke Screen if you get frozen.

The main problem in this fight pre 1.0.4 was handling the adds while continuing to kite Izual. Izual moves fast, so you need be on it. Kiting him around the pits on the map is key, and remember to turn and DPS him when you’re able to. And since we’re talking about kiting, this is where Trail of Cinders comes into play. If you watch the video, you’ll notice he closes in on me a few time, at which I vault out, leaving the Trail. This does pretty good damage to him, not as good as Cydaea, but it’s highly effective. Smoke Screen’s Choking Gas helps add some damage to Izual and his adds as well.

While you’re kiting, remember to try to keep up Chemical Bleed on Izual and keep a set of Spike Traps up that you can kite him over. Other than that, Vault out when he gets close to you, or Evasive Fire backflip if you’re low on Discipline and Prep is on cooldown.

Finally, this kill was done in myd gear, which can be best described as “wonderfully average.” It’s shown at the end of the video, but I’m using a 1k DPS bow and I have roughtly 2k Dex, 37k health, sub 200 resists, ~95k DPS with Sharpshooter, and ~44k DPS without.

Leave me a comment if you have any questions or would like to see other kills. Thanks all and I hope this helps!

]]>http://www.diablo3artisans.com/demon-hunter-build-1-0-4-izual-inferno-kill/feed/1http://www.diablo3artisans.com/demon-hunter-build-1-0-4-izual-inferno-kill/Demon Hunter Inferno Build (Patch 1.0.4) – Cydaea Guidehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diablo3Artisans/~3/D9j1E7lS1-M/
http://www.diablo3artisans.com/demon-hunter-inferno-build-patch-1-0-4-cydaea-guide/#commentsWed, 22 Aug 2012 15:40:54 +0000rwenhttp://www.diablo3artisans.com/?p=1245Hi Friends! It’s been a while since I’ve had any updates for you guys, but now that 1.0.4 has dropped, I’m in the process of revamping my Inferno guide. The good news is that the build I’m playing with now is pretty close to the current build.

I’m going to go into super boring detail in another post, but I wanted to share this preview and let all of you know that CYDAEA IS KILLABLE AGAIN! Cydaea was significantly buffed in 1.0.3, but due to some recent buffs she’s now very killable.

Impale with Chemical Burn – Impale was buffed from 250% to 265% weapon damage, and Chemical Burn was buffed form 125% to 220% weapon damage over 2 seconds.

The Fight

Cydaea consits of 2 phases:

Phase 1: Main Phase

In this phase, which she starts out in, Cydaea runs around the room and has 3 abilities.

Venom Spray – She shoots bolts of poison in a 30 degree arc aimed at the player. This does little damage, and you can tank it or Smoke Screen it.

Web Shot – this is a snare that affects the character for about 2-3 seconds. We can counter this with Smoke Screen or Vault.

Spawn Adds – she spawns a pool that produces 4 small spider adds, each with approximately 80k health. Try to position yourself to hit Cydaea and the adds when you’re DPSing. Use Spike Traps to clear them, and don’t get too close, they hurt! At ~37k health with about 200 resist all, I can survive about 1 hit from an add.

Phase 2: Add Phase

Cydaea goes into the ceiling and begins to spawn pools of adds similar to phase 1. The pools are normally close to where your character is, so it’s important to keep kiting. She spawns about 6 pools for a total of 24 adds.

This fight was a DPS check, as the challenge was how to manage the adds and still DPS Cydaea after the first Phase 2. Fortunately, we don’t need to worry about this now as you should be able to kill her in the initial Phase 1!

When the fight begins, drop Spike Traps and dump all of your hatred in Impales on her. She’ll run around for a bit until stopping to start casting her Venom Spray. When she does, VAULT over her! The damage from Trail of Cinders will melt her face! In the video above, I take her out in about 30 seconds and it’s not a very clean kill. I’m sure I could do it faster, but I wanted to show you guys just how easy it is with less than perfect play.

The great thing about this is that my gear is pretty average. I’m using a 1k 2 Hand bow, have about 2k Agility, and my DPS is ~90k with SS and about ~40k without. Even with lower stats, you should be able to kill her using Trail. Give it a try and let me know!

]]>http://www.diablo3artisans.com/demon-hunter-inferno-build-patch-1-0-4-cydaea-guide/feed/32http://www.diablo3artisans.com/demon-hunter-inferno-build-patch-1-0-4-cydaea-guide/Inferno Belial – Demon Hunterhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diablo3Artisans/~3/YTTesyb4-no/
http://www.diablo3artisans.com/inferno-belial-demon-hunter/#commentsTue, 03 Jul 2012 23:42:24 +0000rwenhttp://www.diablo3artisans.com/?p=1220I’ve had a lot of requests for Boss Fight guides, and Belial is the first installment in the set. As you know, Belial is the end boss of Act II and one of the bosses you can die on easily if you don’t understand the mechanics behind the fight. Once you reach him in Inferno, you are going to have to dig deep to beat him with your Demon Hunter. Here is how do you kill Belial on Inferno with a Demon Hunter.

The Build

I”m using the 1.0.3 build described here, with one small exception, I’m using the wrong Preparation rune. /sadface. I was testing Backup Plan, forgot to switch it out, and didn’t want to lose my NV 5 stack on the chance something epic may drop (but it didn’t). As you can see in the video, I didn’t need to prep that often and when I did, it didn’t trigger Backup Plan (as usual lol). So, sorry for party rockin ^_^

The Fight

Belial consists of 3 phases:

Phase 1: Ads

About 20 Veiled Sentinels spawn, starting with a group of 4.

Try to stay on the bottom part of the map. The ads can spawn anywhere, and it’s possible for them to spawn out of sight. If this happens, they won’t directly attack you and you can clean them up later.

Between Spike Traps, Impale, and Evasive Fire, you should be fine. If you get stuck in a corner, try not to use Evasive Fire or you’ll quickly deplete your Discipline. Remember to use Vault and Smoke Screen to stay out of melee range.

DON’T EXIT THE CINEMATIC between the phase changes! This gives you time to replenish your Hatred, Discipline, and recharge your Sharpshooter!

Phase 2: Belial Humanoid Form

In this phase, Belial will attempt to melee you or cast his ranged fireballs.

If you stay close to him, he won’t fly across the screen and you can kite him easier into your Spike Traps.

There used to be a pathing bug with him, but that’s been fixed.

If you’re using the Templar, try to position yourself directly behind him when Belial casts his fireballs. If done properly, your Templar will soak one of the fireballs and you will be free to DPS.

Ads spawn after his first use of fireballs, so do as much DPS as possible in the beginning of the fight. Aim to have him to 50% health when the ads start to spawn.

Again, try to stay on the bottom part of the map so you can ignore the ads that spawn at the top.

Vault and Smoke Screen are key here.

This phase ends once Belial’s health reaches 10-15%.

Phase 3: Belial Demon Form

Start the phase in the far bottom right corner.

First, he will do his Arm Smash attack. A green pool will form where he’s going to strike, but this attack has a very big hit box, so make sure to move as soon as the pool appears. Just stay on the bottom of the screen, Vault left, then run back to the far right corner. Being in this corner will allow you never to be hit by his left arm smash.

After a few arm smash attacks, he will do his Acid Breath AOE. Just DPS and use Smoke Screen when the breath is about half way to you. That will ensure you don’t get hit by it.

Finally, he will do his Acid Pools AOE. Pools will spawn on the floor and then explode for AOE damage in about 2 seconds. Stop DPS here and focus on avoiding the pools. You can use Smoke Screen to avoid the AOE damage, and the run speed increase from Tactical Advantage really helps out.

He repeats those 3 abilities until you kill him.

]]>http://www.diablo3artisans.com/inferno-belial-demon-hunter/feed/2http://www.diablo3artisans.com/inferno-belial-demon-hunter/Magic Find Swappinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diablo3Artisans/~3/EPrM_oEcc50/
http://www.diablo3artisans.com/magic-find-swapping/#commentsTue, 03 Jul 2012 17:30:41 +0000Meldorahttp://www.diablo3artisans.com/?p=1216Swapping in your +Magic Find gear right before a boss dies is not going to be an option for long. I mentioned last week that this is a great opportunity to make gold between now and the implementation of a fix, since gear with damage stats and magic find will jump in value when Blizzard takes corrective action. Whatever they do, they will reduce the value of pure Magic Find gear since it will no longer be an affective way to increase loot.

They want to hear what you think, and so do I:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Option 1: Set a Magic Find Cap

This option would include setting a cap on the total magic find you have at any given time. Nephalem Valor already contributes 75% to this, so players would need anywhere from 25% to 125% more +Magic Find to reach a 100-200% +Magic Find cap.

This option does not remove the incentive to swap gear in and out, it just makes it easier. While the hard cap would add an interesting element to gearing-mechanics, it wouldn’t solve the problem in my opinion.

Option 2: Slowly Adjust Magic Find Over Time

As soon as you equip as piece of +Magic Find gear your Magic Find remains the same but starts to go up over a period of time. If you equip a +20% piece but already have +100%, you might see 101% for a few seconds, 102% for a few seconds until a minute later you reach 120% total.

This option would certainly solve the problem.

Option 3: Use your average Magic Find % or your lowest Magic Find % of the last 5 minutes

This would essentially introduce a moving average of your magic find over the last 5 minutes. This would certainly solve the problem of swapping in Magic Find gear but it adds unneeded complication to the game. This is a terrible option in my opinion.

Option 4: Zero-Out Your Magic Find % for 3 Minutes After Swapping

Initially this seems like the best option, but Blizzard points out that some players would be confused why their stat is at 0% while others would be unduly punished for swapping other gear. It’s not necessary to reset Magic Find completely, so in light of option #2 above, this option kind of sucks.

Option 5: Gear Swapping Interacts with Nephalem Vaor

Blizzard tossed this option into the list to encourage more conversation while listing 2 long paragraphs of “cons” and only one sentence of “pros.” They obviously don’t like this option and neither do I. It’s not necessary to tweak NV just because players are swapping in and out Magic Find gear.

I definitely think Option 2 (slowly adjust Magic Find) is the obvious winner and will be the one that Blizzard implements. You can read their full post here, either way please vote above and let me know what you think.

]]>http://www.diablo3artisans.com/magic-find-swapping/feed/1http://www.diablo3artisans.com/magic-find-swapping/Magic Find to Increase in Value?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diablo3Artisans/~3/f2JuKzsPLHI/
http://www.diablo3artisans.com/magic-find-to-increase-value/#commentsFri, 29 Jun 2012 14:47:05 +0000Meldorahttp://www.diablo3artisans.com/?p=1210Lately, Magic Find has been used on a swap-in basis. Most players do not have a DPS set with +Magic Find, instead they have their typical DPS gear along with their magic find gear in their inventory. Begin combat, do as much damage as possible and then right before the rare pack, elite or boss dies swap on your Magic Find gear to increase the drops.

This is obviously not how Blizzard intended Magic Find to be used and of course we’re also not sure whether this works since it’s all speculation. It seems it does though, since Blizzard hasn’t stated otherwise. It’s also pretty inconvenience, having to swap in a dozen pieces of gear to boost MF during combat

This has a negative effect on the value of Magic Find and DPS gear; since players don’t think they need gear with both on it. Instead they just grab pure Magic Find for cheap off the auction house and throw it in their inventory. They just need to be strong enough to land the killing blow.

“I wanted to jump in quickly to say that this is one of many topics we’ve been discussing with the developers recently, and that we have a juicy blog post coming up that will delve a bit more into some of the MF swapping solutions we’re considering.“

So what’s the big deal? Blizzard is going to address this issue, likely with a fix. It could be anything from locking your Magic Find when you start combat to dropping your Nephalem Valor buff when you change your equipment. What’s the effect of this going to be? Players are going to actually have to get DPS and Magic Find gear to take advantage of Magic Find at all. This is going to shoot up the value of gear that has both stats. This could be a significant opportunity to make some gold or real money speculating a game change. Good luck!

]]>http://www.diablo3artisans.com/magic-find-to-increase-value/feed/0http://www.diablo3artisans.com/magic-find-to-increase-value/Why Farming Sucks in Diablo 3http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diablo3Artisans/~3/ni31zwm4msk/
http://www.diablo3artisans.com/why-farming-sucks-in-diablo-3/#commentsThu, 28 Jun 2012 18:34:30 +0000Meldorahttp://www.diablo3artisans.com/?p=1204In World of Warcraft players would repeat content countless times in the hopes that they would earn a particular piece of gear. We ran and reran raids for tokens, reputation and the chance an epic upgrade would drop. Since we knew what the drop rates were there was a pretty predictable progression curve, if your guild ran a certain raid every week for a few months, there would be a very good chance you saw most of the pieces drop and would have geared up most of your guild. Otherwise, you would at least be gaining reputation and tokens you could use towards other upgrades.

The big difference in Diablo 3 is that gear is not bound to you, so the amount of gear in the system is limited more so than in WoW. Drop rates of legendary gear are so insanely low that many players play to 60 and then through Inferno without seeing a single legendary drop. Some players report that after leveling to 60 5 times and spending 300+ hours playing they have not found a single valuable legendary. Of course, a level 60 legendary is worth 150-200k just for the Fiery Brimstone, but who wants to play for 50-100 hours to find a legendary for that?

Rares and set items are also extremely rare. Even though you will find dozens of rares and even be able to sell some on the auction house for gold, the chances of you finding a set item you will use is extremely rare.

Due to the fact that there are no predictable ways to get upgrades from farming Inferno, players have the incentive to collect gold so that they can buy upgrades. Let me know if I’m wrong, but I don’t know a single player who geared up their character without the auction house but was still able to clear Inferno or beat the first and second act in a reasonable amount of time.

The process of farming gold sucks, yet it’s the only practical way to gear up your character and this is why farming in Diablo 3 sucks. Farm X amount of gold to buy an upgrade is not nearly as fun or rewarding as beating a boss in hopes that he drops a specific upgrade; even if both activities take the same amount of time.

Why is it this way?

Why did Blizzard design the game this way? The answer is obvious, they wanted everyone using the auction house; especially the real money auction house. Bringing in $1 for every transaction and 15% of future commodities auctions, that’s a lot of revenue. Instead of creating avenues for players to gear their own characters up without trading with large fees, they made drop rates extremely low and made sure that gold was scarce enough to act as the exchange currency.

Unfortunately the only way to fix this is to create gear that binds to your character and is earned by beating a certain milestone in the game. Crafted gear would then gain value as it would be the only currency based way to gear your character. Just like in World of Warcraft some Best in Slot crafted pieces could exist, but you would still likely need a combination of manual progression vs. purchased upgrades. Until then, farming in Diablo 3 will continue to suck.